RiverMan

There's a reason why 90% of all commercially available lures come from overseas and that's because it's very difficult to make a reasonable profit by producing in the USA. For what you pay one person in the USA you can hire a half dozen or more in China. After you figure in all your materials, equipment, wear and tear on equipment, and your time, it's pretty much a labor of love. You can make a little money at it but don't expect to make much. How much to charge depends on how much your competitors are charging and what customers are willing to pay. RM

For me, the best possible combination of action, durability and realism. RM

It looks great, easy to use, low odor, dries quick, put it in water and it softens up. Such has been my experience with all water based urethanes. RM

Yep, I have tried the seal coat, another water based clear that doesn't work. Don't waste your money. RM

Dick, There are UV systems that are much cheaper than that. When I was looking I found several in the two thousand or under range and I suspect there are probably light systems in the hundreds that would work fine. They use UV epoxies on the bottom of surf boards and in some cases use only the UV from the sun to trigger the cure. RM

Dick, I wish we had a coating that would do what epoxy does but in a safer version. The perfect clear coat: 1. Can be dipped or brushed 2. Non-toxic 3. Can be stored in any air tight container without loss of product 4. UV resistant, totally water resistant, and tough as epoxy 5. Water clear Have you ever considered looking at many of the UV cure epoxies? Because they react to UV they don't have many of the toxic additives. They also dry hard as a rock almost instantly when expoxed to UV light. I have experimented with several of them with limited success but I know the right product is out there. The only downside I see being the need to purchase what might be an expensive light. Jed

Shawn (artbrush) does really good work and definitely has an eye for detail. You can build a mold that will work as well as this one with half the effort though. Look at cut molds. RM

Yardape, Lets not forget that TU is by design a platform for us lure builders to discuss various products and methods for building better lures. My comments have nothing to do with Dick personally, I am strictly commenting as a lure builder on the characteristics of DN2. Several years ago I tried a water based urethane and it behaved just as Bobv described DN2 in his test. After getting wet, it got soft, clouded, and was no longer impervious to water. Jed

I'm trying to figure out what all the excitement is over a coating that can't withstand a 24 hour water soak. You can coat a lure with Devcon and sink it for weeks with no ill effects. Your typical rapala, lucky craft, storm, or luhr jensen lure you could leave in the water a month and it would still be fine. I tip my hat to Dick for looking for a better coating but thus far this product has not demonstrated durability in water. Jed

Sounds like Dick needs to go back to the original coating and find a way to store it.

The clear coat on a lure may be scraped and scratched from banging around in the boat, hitting the bottom of the river, bouncing off branches, or in a fishes mouth. If a clear coat can't hold up to simply being submerged for 24 hours, how will it hold up to years of fishing? Some of my favorite salmon lures are scraped from one end to the other from teeth. Any one of my commercially purchased lures can easily be left underwater for days with no ill effects. If DN2 can't take a 24 hour soak, it's definitely not "the clear coat" for lure builders IMHO. Jed

Got the stuff in the mail today. I got two bottles that can both fit in the palm of my hand for $20.00!! And, it mixes two parts A to one part B..........not so excited about that. Finally, I can't get one of the bottles open. It's one of those push down and turn caps an it won't come off. Virtually no odor whatsoever from the one bottle I can open. I will report back soon. RM

With all due respect, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it. All of us have had failures with DN, Etex and Devcon and yet we all know these are excellent clear coats. The only way we will know if this product is any good is to put it on some wood and see how it goes. I will be testing it soon and report back on my findings. RM

Looks like it could be a possibility...........looks like its safer than other epoxies too. RM

No clear coat will hold up to continued banging among parts. Have you tried creating more room between the joints, beveling the joints, and/or rounding off the corners so that the clearcoat can get a better bite? RM